The Catholic hierarchy wrote to the Taoiseach in June to express its disappointment at the absence of a reference to Christianity in the draft EU constitutional treaty, wrties Arthur Beesley, Political Reporter.
The Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Seán Brady, and the retired Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, raised the absence of such a reference in separate letters to Mr Ahern after the Government brokered an EU agreement on the draft constitution in June.
Records released under the Freedom of Information Act show the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) and individual priests lobbied the Taoiseach to push for such a reference in the run-up to final negotiation of the treaty. The preamble to the draft cites the "cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe", but it does not refer to any specific tradition.
A day after the treaty was agreed, Cardinal Connell sent his congratulations to Mr Ahern and said: "The whole nation will be immensely proud of this achievement.
"Of course, you will appreciate that I am disappointed at the absence in the constitution of a reference to our Christian roots. Coming from the land of St Columbanus, we find it hard to accept overlooking so much of the history of Europe."
Writing a week later, Archbishop Brady also congratulated Mr Ahern. He went on to say that a reference in the constitution to Europe's Christian roots would have been welcome. However, he was happy with separate provisions in which the EU pledged to respect the status of churches in national law, recognise their identity, and maintain transparent and regular dialogue with churches.
Mr Ahern wrote back to the Cardinal and the Archbishop, thanking them for the their "kind words", which he said meant a lot to him.
The exchange of letters followed correspondence from CORI in May, in which it urged Mr Ahern to use his influence to secure a reference to God in the constitution.
CORI director Father Seán Healy said the absence of such a reference was unfair "as it fails to recognise one of the two great traditions on which Europe has developed".
Father Healy said the first tradition recognised God while the second separated Church and State.
"Both of these traditions have made substantial contributions to the development of Europe over the centuries," he said.
"More than half of the citizens of the enlarged EU live in countries that recognise God in one way or another in their constitutions. The failure to recognise this tradition in the draft constitution raises very serious questions.
". . . The message this will send to the Arab world is that religion and democracy are not compatible. Such a message, which being untrue, has alarming implications."
In his response Mr Ahern said Ireland supported an enhanced reference to God or Europe's Christian heritage. Although he would make every possible effort to reach consensus, it would be very difficult to achieve it on such a reference.